Contact Centre Trainer of the Year

Contact Centre Trainer of the Year - Shona Raemaki, Kiwibank

Our thanks to Shona from Kiwibank for the interview




















1. Congratulations on your win. Can you briefly describe your
responsibilities and main focus as the trainer at Kiwibank. Within in
the centre what  types of calls, products and services are the staff
required to learn?

My main responsibilities are/were to manage the Learning & Development Team for the main contact centre of Kiwibank. I had a team of three trainers and we were
responsible for training from induction, service, sales and coaching through to leadership training for team leaders. 

I also ran a leadership development programme which was a six month programme for those identified as our next team leaderss. This covered aspects of both people and business leadership. We take general banking calls from all customer groups from what is the balance of my account right through to complicated problem solving.  We also covered all banking products from every day accounts and services to general information to do with lending.


2. We also understand that you have been seconded in a different role,
what is your main focus now and are you still working within the contact
centre environment with Kiwibank?

My main focus now is dealing with the day to day activities of managing our retail network.  This requires me to build close relationships with NZ Post who provides our retail network as well as other parts of Kiwibank. 

I have involvement in all customer interactions and these do at times involve the contact centre. I am no longer part of the contact centre but do have dealings with them. 

3. As part of your winning award entry, you would have outlined some of
your targets or successes. Are you able to share some of them with the
TUANZ contact centre community. If so, what are they and how did you meet them?

Two of our biggest successes were the complete restructure and rewrite of our induction programme. This required a considerable revamp of training goals and objectives along with methods to meet the business recruitment requirements. We were successful in reducing training time from six to four weeks while increasing the competency of participants on completion.

We introduced a structured side-by-side coaching programme as part of the induction.  This allowed the new CSR to gain a clear, concise and transparent coaching programme which allowed them to assess their training needs on an ongoing basis.  It also provided them with an experienced buddy who was able to take them from listening in to calls through to completing all calls themselves. This also provided the opportunity for more senior/experienced CSRs to being selected and trained as a coach, thus providing a development opportunity.

Our other big success was the design and implementation of a leadership development programme. We had assessed that we had no succession planning for future team leaders and no cover for any vacancies. We designed the six month programme to allow practical experience in four business areas for the participants as well as providing existing team leaders with support during a heavy recruiting period. 
The participants were required to complete three assignments which required a coaching session to be planned and implemented over a period. Also they were required to work as individuals and a group to complete presentations and identify
areas of improvement in the running of the contact centre.

Our success has been that from the first group of eight participants, four went on to become team leaders, three moved into other business areas of Kiwibank and one came into my L & D team and is now running this programme.

4. In your opinion do you think entering the awards (evaluating the
metric you use, articulating the successes your centre has had) was
useful. If so, can you provide us with tangible examples of what you
learned during the process?

It was useful for both myself and my team to complete. We had set a goal about 18 months prior to be in a position to submit a winning entry into this award. We planned what areas of our programme we wanted to improve and also worked with the management of the centre to ensure we were meeting their needs. 

Completing the application allowed us to really reflect on everything we had achieved and to provide a clear picture of our achievements to others within Kiwibank. I felt very proud of what we as a team had achieved. I think it forced us to stop and think about where we had come from and what the journey had been like to get where we wanted to be. Also by having this clear goal it gave us a timeframe to work towards and kept us focussed on achieving little steps along the way.

5. What difference has winning the award made to you and your training team?

I have often said this is the award that keeps on going.  I believe it has given me recognition and credentials to others in an area of business not often recognised. 

When starting in my seconded role this allowed others to see that I had "the goods" to back up what I was saying and that I could speak confidently about training requirements.

I believe for my team it allowed others to see how beneficial our work has been and that we have been recognised as a leader in our field. Kiwibank is very proud of this achievement and ensure my team felt very special.

6. After your success this year, it would be easy and very human, to sit
back and bask in the glory. How do you motivate yourself  to achieve
even more for the future?

The secondment I accepted shortly after the award certainly has presented many many new challenges. The award has cemented my own confidence in my abilities and assisted me in taking ownership of this role and doing as good a job as I can. It also provides you with the feeling that you need to back it up and not let it be a one off.


Vision - "To deliver straight forward banking for all New Zealanders"

Mission - "To earn the respect of New Zealanders by providing a real banking alternative delivered with Kiwi spirit"